GM1: Miami @ Boston

[Real Deal]

Forgive me for thinking he was faking it. I'm used to him acting hurt, and apparently, so is Q-Rich.

 

"I was trying to get over there to take the ball out of bounds and [Garnett] started to talk to me, so I talked back. I don't have any business talking to him, he was on the ground crying. I don't know what was going on, two actresses over there, that's what they are.

 

"I just get surprised by people's actions when I know them better than that. They're not those characters they portray. They're not who they say they are, Garnett and Pierce, they're good basketball players and that's about it.

 

"I said to Jermaine, he's OK because I knew nobody touched him," explained Richardson. "Is he taking another break like he does so many times? Sometimes he falls like he's about to be out for the season and then he gets right up, that's all I said.

 

"I don't like them, and they know it."

http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/news/story?id=5107909

[Poe]

The Celtics did an excellent job closing out and taking away driving lanes. They had excellent rotations as well. Everything they did defensively in the second half was outstanding. They deserved this victory.

 

At the same time, the Heat allowed the Boston defense to intimidate them, and they stopped penetrating and driving to the rim on offense. They just sort of passed the ball around the perimeter expecting an open shot to come on its own, and it didn't. They got intimidated (especially Wright, Chalmers, and Beasley, and Wade also had 7 turnovers), and they winded up throwing away this game.

 

Overall in this game, JO, Beasley, and Wright missed a lot of shots they normally made throughout the season today. Allen, Pierce, and Garnett's poor play is due to the Heat's defense, which did a great job as well. Although I do think the Celtics deserved this game, I do expect a Heat victory on Tuesday.

Edited April 18, 2010 by Poe

[Flash]

I wouldn't say D got intimidated. He just got stupid more than anything. Dorell and Mario looked like they had never played ball before and Beaz lost the intensity he played with in the first half. I think with our offense struggling it would've been a good idea to insert him in the game a little earlier than when he came back in.

[Flash]

And Pierce was definitely faking. Don't even try and make that excuse about "shoulder stings". He fell and collapsed like he was about to die in front of our bench. Surprised he didn't need a wheel chair.

[Clutch]

if its the shoulder why was he on the floor with his legs up lol

[Poe]

I wouldn't say D got intimidated. He just got stupid more than anything. Dorell and Mario looked like they had never played ball before and Beaz lost the intensity he played with in the first half. I think with our offense struggling it would've been a good idea to insert him in the game a little earlier than when he came back in.

Stupid? Like when he bounced the ball off his leg on the top of the key? Or when he air balled a three pointer that he usually makes?

 

Beasley made some nice hustle plays in the beginning, but overall, he wasn't aggressive with the ball in his hands. For Beasley's career, he averages 13 shot attempts in 27 minutes per game. He had 8 shot attempts in 31 minutes last night. He simply lacked the desire to score the ball that he has shown throughout most of the regular season.

 

Mario always looks like he never played ball before. Yesterday, he overplayed the passing lanes way too much defensively always trying too hard to get a steal. At least he only committed one turnover offensively.

[Flash]

Beasley got intimidated by the name Kevin Garnett. He was working him earlier but I feel like he doesn't have the confidence in himself to go against a guy like KG and succeed.

[Legacy]

Man, what the hell happened to KG. He was my favorite power forward for a while, but his [expletive]y tactics make it hard to root for the wannabe thug.

[Dr. Feelgood]

This just makes me hate Pierce even more than I already do. He is my least favorite player to ever touch a basketball. He's one of the fakest players in the entire league, he is constantly acting like he's having a season ending injury. The guy is a tool. And as for KG, he's a punk now. I used to like him but man, he's making it really really hard for anyone to like him that isn't from Boston.

 

Pierce is the biggest piece of garbage in the entire league. Great player, no, fantastic player. Just a liar and a fake.

[Built Ford Tough]

So blowing a 14 point lead down the stretch isn't a collapse? I appreciate the time you took to write that long and detailed post, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that Miami blew the game.

 

Tony Allen did a great job on Wade, but Haslem missed 3 gimmes that would've been big baskets for us. Jermaine was absolutely horrendous tonight as well. Not to mention Wade made horrendous decisions with the ball and then you have Dorell dribbling the ball off his foot and missing threes from the corner.

 

The lack of Arroyo and Beasley was horrible. Michael was outplaying Garnett at the start of the game, even grabbing a big offensive rebound over him that lead to a bucket.

 

No, apparently it takes incredible bias to think that the Heat blew the game.

 

And the Heat didn't blow a 14 point lead down the stretch, unless you consider more than a third of the game the stretch or something. The Heat had a 14 point lead with about 7 minutes left in the third quarter, which was about 29 minutes into the game. That left 19 minutes, basically 40% of the game, left. The Heat didn't blow a 14 point lead down the stretch. They lost the 14 point lead with basically 40% of the game left to play.

 

Even then, the Heat were held to 39.7% shooting, scored 32 points in the 2nd half (around 23 points in the final 19 minutes or so of the game and 10 in the 4th quarter) and turned the ball over 20 times.

 

I'm sorry but I just don't see how anybody can think that the Heat blew this game and somehow gave it away to the Celtics. Apparently I'm not intelligent enough.

 

Boston outplayed the Heat throughout the 2nd half, outscoring them by 12 points after being outscored by 3 in the half. But no, the Heat choked this game away and gave it to the Celtics.

 

The Celtics did an excellent job closing out and taking away driving lanes. They had excellent rotations as well. Everything they did defensively in the second half was outstanding. They deserved this victory.

 

At the same time, the Heat allowed the Boston defense to intimidate them, and they stopped penetrating and driving to the rim on offense. They just sort of passed the ball around the perimeter expecting an open shot to come on its own, and it didn't. They got intimidated (especially Wright, Chalmers, and Beasley, and Wade also had 7 turnovers), and they winded up throwing away this game.

 

Overall in this game, JO, Beasley, and Wright missed a lot of shots they normally made throughout the season today. Allen, Pierce, and Garnett's poor play is due to the Heat's defense, which did a great job as well. Although I do think the Celtics deserved this game, I do expect a Heat victory on Tuesday.

 

It is definitely reasonable to say that the Heat were intimidated by the Celtics defense. I can see where you are coming from with that comment.

 

However, to act like the reason why the Heat stopped penetrating and driving to the rim on offense and were settling to just swing the ball around the horn is because they were intimidated is, simply put, not telling the whole story. Sure, I definitely think that is played a part in it all, but the biggest reason why they stopped driving to the hoop is because of the fact that they simply couldn't penetrate the Celtics defense. They had absolutely no driving lanes throughout the majority of the 2nd half of the game, so they couldn't do anything other than swing the ball. When you are facing the kind of defensive intensity that the Heat faced in the 2nd half of that game, you can't get to the hoop because of the intensity that you are facing, whether you are intimidated or not.

 

They didn't throw the game away either, the Celtics ripped it away from them based off of their superb play in the 2nd half. I t's not like they were playing the Raptors and getting countless open looks and easy baskets that they simply didn't convert on and that is the reason they lost. They stopped scoring because Boston played the kind of defense that made them the 2008 NBA Champions and a team that many considered to be the favourites in the East heading into last season and even this season.

 

Your last comment is just wrong as far as I am concerned though. You attribute O'Neal, Beasley and Wright's struggles in this game to the fact that they missed shots that they usually make and don't make any reference to the amazing defense that the Celtics played, yet you go ahead and say that Pierce, Allen and Garnett (and probably Rondo) struggles is due to the Heat's defense. I don't disagree that the Heat played very good defense on the best Celtic players, but to simply say that O'Neal, Beasley and Wright struggled because they didn't hit shots that they usually do, and not even mention the Celtics defense is a joke. Even if the Celtics defense had no reason to with these three Heat players struggling, O'Neal, Beasley and Wright are notoriously inconsistent anyways, so its not like this was something out of hte norm anyways.

 

And Pierce was definitely faking. Don't even try and make that excuse about "shoulder stings". He fell and collapsed like he was about to die in front of our bench. Surprised he didn't need a wheel chair.

 

Like Wade did?

[Clutch]

wade had a REVERSE dislocation..and he wasnt on the floor with his feet up

[OldChili]

Man, what the hell happened to KG. He was my favorite power forward for a while, but his [expletive]y tactics make it hard to root for the wannabe thug.

http://i39.tinypic.com/wi6es9.gif

[bigdog17k]

^ I'd tell him to gtfo of my face if I were Nate.

[Poe]

It is definitely reasonable to say that the Heat were intimidated by the Celtics defense. I can see where you are coming from with that comment.

 

However, to act like the reason why the Heat stopped penetrating and driving to the rim on offense and were settling to just swing the ball around the horn is because they were intimidated is, simply put, not telling the whole story. Sure, I definitely think that is played a part in it all, but the biggest reason why they stopped driving to the hoop is because of the fact that they simply couldn't penetrate the Celtics defense. They had absolutely no driving lanes throughout the majority of the 2nd half of the game, so they couldn't do anything other than swing the ball. When you are facing the kind of defensive intensity that the Heat faced in the 2nd half of that game, you can't get to the hoop because of the intensity that you are facing, whether you are intimidated or not.

 

They didn't throw the game away either, the Celtics ripped it away from them based off of their superb play in the 2nd half. I t's not like they were playing the Raptors and getting countless open looks and easy baskets that they simply didn't convert on and that is the reason they lost. They stopped scoring because Boston played the kind of defense that made them the 2008 NBA Champions and a team that many considered to be the favourites in the East heading into last season and even this season.

 

Your last comment is just wrong as far as I am concerned though. You attribute O'Neal, Beasley and Wright's struggles in this game to the fact that they missed shots that they usually make and don't make any reference to the amazing defense that the Celtics played, yet you go ahead and say that Pierce, Allen and Garnett (and probably Rondo) struggles is due to the Heat's defense. I don't disagree that the Heat played very good defense on the best Celtic players, but to simply say that O'Neal, Beasley and Wright struggled because they didn't hit shots that they usually do, and not even mention the Celtics defense is a joke. Even if the Celtics defense had no reason to with these three Heat players struggling, O'Neal, Beasley and Wright are notoriously inconsistent anyways, so its not like this was something out of hte norm anyways.

 

There's not much I can say with the first comment, since we all agree that the Celtic defense was the main reason they got back in the game and won. I'm just saying that the Heat failed to find the better offense to beat the Celtics defense. They didn't adjust properly is what I'm saying. The Celtics defense was great, but it was not so completely perfect where it was absolutely impossible to find opportunities to score. The Heat allowed the Celtics defense to intimidate them which resulted in poor shot selections and even multiple 24 second violations, instead of being patient and playing smarter basketball by screening, penetrating, and moving without the ball to create opportunities. I'm not taking away from what the Celtics did at all, but it's a two-way street. There were plenty of mistakes that the Heat could have corrected which would have resulted in a win.

 

What I meant by throwing away "the game" was throwing away their advantage, their lead in the third quarter, which was when the Celtics picked up their intensity.

 

O'Neal was completely out of rhythm that game, which is to be expected from sitting out recently from his injury. He also struggled to take Perkins one-on-one, which I will admit is more in credit to the defensive end. At the same time, he missed a few open looks that he has consistently made throughout the season. Wright and Beasley also missed wide open jumpers as well, that they both usually make. Haslem also missed an open midrange J and blew an alley. The Celtics defense was great, but there were plenty of opportunities that the Heat didn't pull through when they usually do. All in all, many of the Heat's role players shot well below their season percentage, and it wasn't all from Boston's defense.

 

At Boston's end, the Heat did an excellent job getting out on shooters, but did a miserable job in comparison on protecting the paint. 74 of the Celtics' 85 points came from free throws (22 for 28) and points in the paint (52). I can't say the same thing for Boston when it comes to taking advantage of open looks, since for them, the majority of their looks were in the paint and on free throws. As a whole, nobody on the Celtics was very far below their season percentage on offense, except for Ray Allen who was 2-9 and 0-4 from three, and he did get some decent looks.

Edited April 19, 2010 by Poe

[Poe]

http://i39.tinypic.com/wi6es9.gif

Is it just me, or does KG always act like he's living in a movie or something..

[Lone Wolf]

Garnett said that Q was talking some smack to Pierce when Pierce was on the floor in "pain". It's a 2-sided story, so who knows what was really said.

[Flash]

Like Wade did?

 

Except Wade had a real injury that kept him out half the season.

[SRT Spidey]

who the hell cares about KG punching [expletive] [expletive] qrich or pierce getting injured. We still outplayed you guys the entire game and took the first W. stop whining about it, we'll take game 2 without KG anyways.

[Flash]

who the hell cares about KG punching [expletive] [expletive] qrich or pierce getting injured. We still outplayed you guys the entire game and took the first W. stop whining about it, we'll take game 2 without KG anyways.

 

The entire game? Clearly not. We played better for the first 2 1/2 quarters and then Boston's defense went to a level it hadn't gone in a while.

[Poe]

who the hell cares about KG punching [expletive] [expletive] qrich or pierce getting injured. We still outplayed you guys the entire game and took the first W. stop whining about it, we'll take game 2 without KG anyways.

You can't outplay a team "the entire game" and be losing at any point.

[Flash]

I found it interesting when Hubie Brown started questioning Miami's offensive strategy late in the game. I told my friend I was with right before he said that that our offensive stretgy sucked and it was developing way too slowly rather than attacking them like we were before. We didn't get anything going until the shot clock was under 10. Playing that way let us fall right into Boston's hand and they ran away with it after.

[Flash]

Just to make another point about this game. That 4th quarter and Beasley's play is a prime example of why I was so critical of the way Beasley was handled during the regular season.